The latest research progress on minimally invasive treatments for hepatocellular carcinoma

Background:Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide.Due to the high prevalence of hepatitis B virus(HBV)infection in China,the incidence of HCC in China is high,and liver cirrhosis caused by chronic hepatitis also brings great challenges to treatment.This paper reviewed the latest research progress on minimally invasive treatments for HCC,including percutaneous thermal ablation and new nonthermal ablation techniques,and introduced the principles,advantages,and clinical applications of various therapeutic methods in detail.Data sources:The data of treatments for HCC were systematically collected from the Pub Med,Science Direct,American Chemical Society and Web of Science databases published in English,using“minimally invasive”and“hepatocellular carcinoma”or“liver cancer”as the keywords.Results:Percutaneous thermal ablation is still a first-line strategy for the minimally invasive treatment of HCC.The effect of microwave ablation(MWA)on downgrading treatment before liver transplantation is better than that of radiofrequency ablation(RFA),while RFA is more widely used in the clinical practice.High-intensity focused ultrasound(HIFU)is mainly used for the palliative treatment of advanced liver cancer.Electrochemotherapy(ECT)delivers chemotherapeutic drugs to the target cells while reducing the blood supply around HCC.Irreversible electroporation(IRE)uses a microsecond-pulsed electric field that induces apoptosis and necrosis and triggers a systemic immune response.The nanosecond pulsed electric field(ns PEF)has achieved a good response in the ablation of mice with HCC,but it has not been reported in China for the treatment of human HCC.Conclusions:A variety of minimally invasive treatments provide a sufficient survival advantage for HCC patients.Nonthermal ablation will lead to a new wave with its unique advantage of antitumor recurrence and metastasis.

Characterization of oral and gut microbiome and plasma metabolomics in COVID-19 patients after 1-year follow-up

Background:Due to the outbreak and rapid spread of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19),more than 160 million patients have become convalescents worldwide to date.Significant alterations have occurred in the gut and oral microbiome and metabonomics of patients with COVID-19.However,it is unknown whether their characteristics return to normal after the 1-year recovery.Methods:We recruited 35 confirmed patients to provide specimens at discharge and 1 year later,as well as 160healthy controls.A total of 497 samples were prospectively collected,including 219 tongue-coating,129 stool and 149 plasma samples.Tongue-coating and stool samples were subjected to 16S rRNA sequencing,and plasma samples were subjected to untargeted metabolomics testing.Results:The oral and gut microbiome and metabolomics characteristics of the 1-year convalescents were restored to a large extent but did not completely return to normal.In the recovery process,the microbial diversity gradually increased.Butyric acid-producing microbes and Bifidobacterium gradually increased,whereas lipopolysaccharideproducing microbes gradually decreased.In addition,sphingosine-1-phosphate,which is closely related to the inflammatory factor storm of COVID-19,increased significantly during the recovery process.Moreover,the predictive models established based on the microbiome and metabolites of patients at the time of discharge reached high efficacy in predicting their neutralizing antibody levels one year later.Conclusions:This study is the first to characterize the oral and gut microbiome and metabonomics in 1-year convalescents of COVID-19.The key microbiome and metabolites in the process of recovery were identified,and provided new treatment ideas for accelerating recovery.And the predictive models based on the microbiome and metabolomics afford new insights for predicting the recovery situation which benefited affected individuals and healthcare.

Irreversible electroporation plus chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone as treatments for patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is a major health problem worldwide,with a high incidence and mortality rate.It is estimated that it has become the sixth leading cause of cancer-related death in China and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death globally[1].For patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer(LAPC),there are no standard treatment options.

Investigation on 1-Heptene/Air Laminar Flame Propagation under Elevated Pressures

The laminar flame propagation of 1-heptene/air mixtures covering equivalence ratios from 0.7 to 1.5 is investigated in a constant-volume cylindrical combustion vessel at 373K and elevated pressures (1, 2, 5, and 10 atm). Laminar flame speed and Markstein length are derived from the recorded schlieren images. A kinetic model of 1-heptene combustion is developed based on our previous kinetic model of 1-hexene. The model is validated against the laminar flame speed data measured in this work and the ignition delay time data in literature. Modeling analyses, such as sensitivity analysis and rate of production analysis, are performed to help understand the high temperature chemistry of 1-heptene under various pressures and its influence on the laminar flame propagation. Furthermore, the laminar flame propagation of 1-heptene/air mixtures is compared with that of n-heptane/air mixtures reported in our previous work. The laminar flame speed values of 1-heptene/air mixtures are observed to be faster than those of n-heptane/air mixtures under most conditions due to the enhanced exothermicity and reactivity.

Investigation of fluorescence resonance energy transfer ultrafast dynamics in electrostatically repulsed and attracted exciton-plasmon systems

Following the gradual maturation of synthetic techniques for nanomaterials,exciton-plasmon composites have become a research hot-spot due to their controllable energy transfer through electromagnetic fields on the nanoscale.However,most reports ignore fluorescence resonance energy transfer(FRET)under electrostatic repulsion conditions.In this study,the FRET process is investigated in both electrostatic attraction and electrostatic repulsion systems.By changing the Au:quantum dot ratio,local-field induced FRET can be observed with a lifetime of ns and a fast component of hundreds of ps.These results indicate that the intrinsic transfer process can only elucidated by considering both steady and transient state information.

Application of sinomenine in rheumatic diseases

Sinomenine is widely used in a variety of rheumatic diseases, and more and more attention has been paid to theadverse reaction in allergic reactions, digestive tract, blood, circulatory and nervous system. The application ofsinomenine in rheumatoid diseases and its side effects were reviewed here, which may provide a reference for thesafe and effective application of sinomenine preparations.

A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of Yiyiren Decoction in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

Objective： To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of Yiyiren Decoction combined with western medicine and western medicine alone in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Methods： Databases of CNKI, VIP, Wanfang Data, PubMed, Medline, Cochrane Library, and Embase were retrieved by computers. The references of the included studies, relevant dissertations, and conference proceedings were manually retrieved. The search intervals were from the database inception until July 2017. The retrieval and screening of studies were carried out respectively by 2 researchers, and the quality and data were evaluated and extracted according to Jadad quality scale. Meta-analysis was performed with RevMan5.3 software. Results： （1） A total of 7 randomized controlled trials and 485 patients were enrolled, among which 262 cases were in experimental group and 223 cases were in control group. The point of 2 studies was 3, other studies were 1-2. The studies included indicated that the group baselines were comparable. （2）The total effective rate of Yiyiren Decoction with western medicine group was higher than that of western medicine group （RR = 0.85, 95%CI [0.78, 0.92]. Improved Conditions of tender joint count （MD = -2.79, 95%CI [-3.47, -2.12]）; erythrocyte sedimentation rate （MD = -9.5, 95%CI [15.67, -3.33]）; and C-reactive protein （MD = -3.36, 95%CI [-5.45, -1.27]） were superior to control group. There was no significant difference on the side effects of drugs and the rheumatoid factor between the two groups. Conclusion： Yiyiren Decoction with western medicine had advantages in alleviating clinical symptoms and laboratory index of rheumatoid arthritis patients. While, the quality of included studies was low and possible publication bias was present, further multi-center double-blind randomized control trials with larger sample are needed.

Based on Network Pharmacology to Explore the Action Mechanism of Caulis Sinomenii-Caulis Piperis Kadsurae Herb Pair in the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objective:By using the method of network pharmacology to explore the mechanism of action of Caulis Sinomenii-Caulis Piperis Kadsurae herb pair in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.Methods:Search and screen the active ingredients and targets of Qingfengteng(Caulis Sinomenii)and Haifengteng(Caulis Piperis Kadsurae)through the TCMSP database,and predict and supplement the target points of the active ingredients through the Swiss Target Prediction platform;collect rheumatoid arthritis disease targets through GeneCards,OMIM database,and DRUGBANK database,construct a Venn diagram,and obtain the key target of Caulis Sinomenii-Caulis Piperis Kadsurae herb pairs in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis;use Cytoscape 3.7.1 to establish the effect of Caysaceae sylvestris and Rhizoma sibirica in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis"Drug-active ingredient-target"network diagram,submit key targets to STRING11.0 database to construct a protein interaction network model to obtain core targets;perform the GO and KEGG enrichment analysis of key targets on the Metascape platform,and draw the network diagram of"active pharmaceutical ingredients-targets-pathways".Results:After screening,discover a total of 27 active ingredients of Caulis Sinomenii-Caulis Piperis Kadsurae herb pairs,which can act on 229 targets,1269 related targets for rheumatoid arthritis diseases.And obtain a total of 95 common targets for drug active ingredients and diseases,including PTGS2,EGFR,MMP9,CASP3,JUN,etc.The common targets are mainly enriched in signaling pathways such as Pathways in cancer,Th17 cell differentiation and Endocrine resistance etc.Conclusion:This study preliminarily explored the potential mechanism of Caulis Sinomenii-Caulis Piperis Kadsurae herb pairs in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.The Caulis Sinomenii-Caulis Piperis Kadsurae herb pair may regulate cancer-related pathways,Th17 cell differentiation,endocrine resistance and other pathways to treat rheumatoid arthritis by regulating targets such as PTGS2,EGFR,and MMP9,providing clues and ideas for follow-up experimental research.

Ultrafast optical spectroscopy of surface-modified silicon quantum dots: unraveling the underlying mechanism of the ultrabright and color-tunable photoluminescence

In this work,the fundamental mechanism of ultrabright fluorescence from surface-modified colloidal silicon quantum dots is investigated in depth using ultrafast spectroscopy.The underlying energy band structure corresponding to such highly efficient direct bandgap-like emissions in our surface-modified silicon quantum dots is unraveled by analyzing the transient optical spectrum,which demonstrates the significant effect of surface molecular engineering.It is observed that special surface modification,which creates novel surface states,is responsible for the different emission wavelengths and the significant improvement in the photoluminescence quantum yields.Following this essential understanding,surface-modified silicon quantum dots with deep blue to orange emission are successfully prepared without changing their sizes.

Study and Application of Camber Control Model of Intermediate Slab in Rough Rolling

In order to solve the camber problem of intermediate slab in a domestic conventional hot rolling mill, a three dimensional elastic-plastic dynamic model was built through finite element method to quantitatively calculate the influence of lateral flow factors in different entry thicknesses, reductions, reduction ratios differences on both sides and width factors. Thus, the extending difference at outlet of intermediate slab in length was transformed into thickness difference on both sides by the results, and then the tilting value of roll gap reduction to control the camber was calculated. Based on the above results, the camber control model of intermediate slab in rough rolling was estab- lished. The practical application on the rough rolling mill obtained a decent control effect, and it proved that this model had a high accuracy.